


Paper Castle

by LadyNikita



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Art Block, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, also, but like a bit, i think, idk how to tag lol, just in case, kinda a bit of angst, mild anxiety attack warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-22 18:25:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13769937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNikita/pseuds/LadyNikita
Summary: Roman gets an art block and panics. Virgil comes to comfort him.





	Paper Castle

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “Stop telling me you’re okay”  
> Requested by @alyssadashrub on Tumblr.

Virgil couldn’t not notice that Roman was acting a bit off lately. He was quieter and got sloppy with nicknames for him, which was what had awakened the worries in Virgil. He was Anxiety, after all, it was his job to detect when something wasn’t right. And a constantly tired and cautious Roman definitely wasn’t right.  
He decided to do something about it this morning when he appeared in the common space for breakfast made by Patton, as usual. Princey was sitting at the table next to Logan, who was drinking coffee and reading a book. Patton was making pancakes, going on about some cartoon that he watched lately. Virgil silently made his way to the table, shooting a glance at Roman who was leaning his head on his hand, staring into the air.  
“Hey, kiddo!” Patton exclaimed to Virgil with a smile. “How did you sleep? Care for a pancake?”  
“Okay, I guess,” he shrugged. “And not really,” he denied, as an unspecified anxious feeling grew in his stomach. He never could eat when anxiety was acting up and he needed to find the cause of this.  
He sat next to Roman.  
“You okay, Princey?” Virgil asked.  
Roman didn’t answer.  
Virgil opened his mouth but Logan raised his glance from the book and spoke up first.  
“Yes, I wanted to pose that question too. You’re not behaving like yourself, Roman.”  
Virgil waved a hand before his eyes before he blinked as if he’d just woken up and looked at them.  
“Wha- hey, Virge.”  
Virgil blinked.  
“I asked if you’re okay.”  
Roman looked at him.  
“Yeah,” he said, attempting a smile. “I’m good.”  
Virgil couldn’t miss a significant look that he exchanged with Patton. Logan apparently noticed it too, because he looked at Virgil with a question. He just shrugged.  
“Roman, are you gonna eat?” Patton asked softly with a plate of pancakes in his hands.  
“Sorry, padre, I’m not really hungry,” he shot him an apologizing glance. Patton shrugged it off.  
“You can’t even be hungry, you’re not corporeal,” Logan muttered under his nose.  
Patton started to eat and they just sat there for a while in an uncomfortable silence, Logan and Virgil sensing that there’s something the personifications of the right side of the brain weren’t telling them.  
Roman finally couldn’t stand it and, after muttering a quiet “I’m sorry”, he stood up and sank out to his room. Patton sighed sadly, kind of despite himself.  
“What’s going on?” Virgil asked with a frown, as the anxious feeling was growing bigger and bigger. Now he was sure something was up with Roman and Patton knew what.  
He looked into his plate.  
“I don’t know if Roman wouldn’t mind if I told you,” he said quietly. “He’s quite… sensitive about that.”  
“About what?” Logan closed his book. “You know we can be of help when needed.”  
Patton nodded.  
“But he told me not to worry you guys. And I can’t break a promise.”  
Virgil nodded and stood up.  
“I’ll talk to him,” he offered before his anxiety could kick in, stopping him from taking action. Patton smiled as Virgil sank down to Roman’s room.  
“A room” was a grave understatement. Roman had a big castle on a green hill with a flowery garden and a fountain. Behind the hill was a village and a forest, but now Virgil noticed that everything was kind of blurry, as if covered in fog. Nothing felt real, as it usually had. He frowned and walked the path to the castle and knocked on the door.  
“Princey? It’s me, Vir-” he stopped short as his hand suddenly went through the “wooden” door. He blinked, surprised. “Roman?” he called.  
“What are you doing here, Virgil?” Roman made the door completely disappear, facing the anxious side.  
“What’s going on? We’re concerned and Patton can’t tell us what’s wrong,” Virgil crossed his arms.  
“Nothing’s wrong, I’m fine-”  
“Stop telling me you’re okay, Princey,” Virgil said, his voice softened. “I know something’s off. Let us help.”  
Suddenly the wind grew stronger. The harsh and cold blasts bit into Virgil’s skin, so he adjusted his hoodie and hid his palms in the sleeves. He looked up and saw something slowly fall from the sky - when it was in his grasp, he reached for it and caught it. It felt like a piece of paper, but thicker.  
“What’s that?” he looked at it then turned to Roman. His hands started to shake as he saw more of these fall from the castle walls, one thought pulsing pushily in his mind - this world is falling apart. “What’s going on??”  
Roman sighed.  
“I can’t create anymore. Everything I make just falls apart, Virgil. I am a fallen king! A prince without a throne. A-”  
“Hold up, don’t panic, that’s my job,” Virgil interrupted him and caught his hand. Roman looked at it.  
“But-”  
“You know you can’t die, right?” Virgil looked Roman in the eyes that were now full of tears. “You’re Thomas’s Creativity. You’re part of him that cannot just disappear.”  
Roman nodded and the wind calmed down a bit.  
“You’re probably having an art block or whatever, insert Logan providing an explanatory exposition,” Virgil smirked slightly. “And things change. They always change, you know yourself that nothing ever stays the same.”  
“Yeah, but… I’ve never felt so- so powerless. It feels like I could never, ever create anything again.”  
“I know,” Virgil nodded, noticing that the floor was paved with these weird papers by now. “But it will change. Your inspiration will come back, I promise. Everything changes so it is not physically possible for you to not create ever again, right?”  
Roman nodded, a shade of a smile on his lips.  
“Maybe you just need some time off. I don’t know. We can go to Logan with this. But there’s no need to panic over this because it won’t stay like this forever,” he raised his eyebrows, waiting for an agreement. Roman sniffled and nodded more confidently.  
“And next time, you should tell all of us what’s going on,” Virgil squeezed his hand reassuringly. “We can help.”  
“You’re right, Virge,” he half-smiled, a ray of sunshine fell on the grass near them, making it shine with dew.  
“See, you’re still creating,” Virgil pointed out. “This world wouldn’t exist without you, right?”  
Roman chuckled and nodded. Then he suddenly hugged Virgil. The anxious side was surprised at first but then he embraced Roman too.  
“Don’t tell anyone,” Roman whispered and Virgil giggled.  
“I was thinking the same thing.”  
Princey pulled away and smiled.  
“Thanks, Virgil.”  
“Uh- whatever,” he shrugged and smiled too.  
“Let’s get out of here, shall we?” Roman asked, his voice a little bit stronger. Virgil felt something warm in his soul at that and noticed that the anxious feeling from the morning had disappeared.  
“Yeah, Princey, we shall.”


End file.
